NXP and energy management solutions provider Landis+Gyr are showcasing the capabilities of smart meters equipped with NFC technology at the Metering Europe event in Amsterdam this week.

The two companies are demonstrating how utility companies will be able to use NFC smart meters to:

Save money by removing the need to include an LCD display in a smart meter. Meter readers will instead use an NFC phone to take a reading from the meter and then use their handset to collect and view current and historical energy consumption.

Use an embedded secure element in the smart meter to increase customer privacy while at the same time providing the necessary level of access to installation and service technicians.

Enable authorised maintenance technicians to download metering information to handsets or tablets as well as upload firmware updates to the meter via NFC.

Use secure device pairing to deliver home area network (HAN) capabilities.

Provide secure and convenient pre-payment of electricity and other utilities.

“NFC opens up new possibilities for the smart grid,” says Daniel Lauk, head of platforms and innovation at Landis+Gyr EMEA. “It will enable secure, bi-directional communication between metering points and utilities, as well as between smart meters and end consumers. We can also envision cost-effective NFC solutions tailored specifically for local market needs — from enabling secure pre-payment via NFC-enabled phones to equipping consumers with mobile apps for personal energy management.”

“The NFC ecosystem is growing and extends far beyond mobile payments,” adds Henri Ardevol, vice president and general manager for NXP’s secure transactions group. “The smart meter demonstrator we’ve developed with Landis+Gyr is another example of the numerous use cases for NFC, as new industries take advantage of its security and convenience, as well as the interaction it enables between the physical and virtual worlds.”